


The Dragoness From the Nearby Tower

by midnightmnkm



Series: Love Live! -FANTASY- [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Magic, Royalty, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 05:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18867130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightmnkm/pseuds/midnightmnkm
Summary: Every year, Maki's royal family celebrates her birthday extravagantly, and fends off the yearly surge of people trying to kidnap her. This year, however, on her thirteenth birthday, she decided she had had enough of that. To everyone's surprise, this was also the year someone finally succeeds in kidnapping her... and she was the Yuuki tribe dragoness, Anju.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Maki is kidnapped.

Every year. Every single year, it happened. Amidst her birthday celebrations, congratulations from all directions, partying with cakes and money and everything, someone kicks down the door to the dining room with swords in their hands, screaming her name.

Nishikino Maki had, for her entire life, never understood why some people had such a different air around them.

Her royal family, her bodyguards, her friends, they all seemed so happy and genuinely caring.

Then those people who would barge into her parties, who she assumed was angry over not being invited or something, they always seemed like... they seemed like dangerous people. She felt like if left to their own devices, they'd do something fatal by mistake, which wouldn't be very nice.

She was still young, so she didn't really understand much about such things.

But she was getting a bit tired of the same gimmick, that was certain. Again and again, ruffians with brandished swords come in, and get repelled by the bodyguards. Sometimes they come in huge groups, and half of her birthday would be spent on her royal family fighting a small-scale war of sort against these bad people.

Something happened, however.

On her thirteenth birthday, two significant things happened. The first was that she'd decided that she had had enough with this repetitive cycle.

The second was that, for once, someone had successfully kidnapped the Nishikino royal family's only daughter.

* * *

"Hey! Let me go!" Maki screamed, legs dangling in the air.

Her abductor, a girl looking equally young as her, frowned. "Are you sure? We're several stories high in the sky."

The heiress looked down once more and gulped. The thought of her landing... no, she knew there was no way she could land safely. "Get down and put me down!" she decided to say instead.

"Hmm... nope!" The girl holding her laughed as she resumed flying towards an abandoned tower far away.

Turning pale, Maki wondered what would happen to her. Who was this girl who kidnapped her? Why did she have dragon wings and horns? Why was she even taking her? And what- or who- was awaiting her at the abandoned tower she had only heard bad rumors of? The girl started trembling, something that didn't go unnoticed.

Her captor frowned. "Hey, hey, stop shaking. It's a bit hard to hold you if you start trembling now," she said.

Maki slowly nodded and tried to calm herself.

Eventually, when they neared, the duo flew through an open window and safely landed inside in a dusty room.

More specifically, the not-human let go of Maki, who was still nervous, and plopped her onto the ground. "Alrighty! We're here at my house now! God, that was thrilling, wasn't it?"

"...srill...?" Maki wasn't sure what that word meant, but nevertheless, her thoughts subsided as her rage returned. "Who are you!? Why did you bring me here!?" she yelled. "Bring me back right now! Papa wouldn't like it if you kept me away from him, and you'll regret ever thinking about taking me away!"

The girl blinked, before laughing. "Yeah, right! Your dad can't do anything to me. I'm terrifying!" she said and spread her wings again.

Maki stared. "...you're not scary to Papa! He's the king, he's not afraid of anyone!"

"But... I'm scary."

"No you're not!"

"Am too!"

"You're not!"

"I am!"

The two growled at each other. Then, pouting, they faced away. "Jerk!" Maki hissed.

"You're the jerk!" the dragoness replied.

"No, you! Stupid!" Maki then grabbed the dragoness and spun her around to face herself. "Now take me back home!"

The girl jolted in surprise, but growled. "No! You'll never make me!"

Her fist clenched tightly, hurting the girl's shoulder a bit. "If not, I'll tell Papa to punish you!" Maki said. "I'm sick of people always coming for me on my birthday! ll those mean men always have to carry swords, it feels like they would hurt me! And now people like you are here to take me away and make Papa do bad things!" She began shaking the dragoness back and forth. "If you hurt me, Papa will never forgive you! And, and, and if you hurt Papa! I! Won't! Forgive! You!"

"S-stop! Stop!" the girl wailed. Maki regained her senses and let her go, watching as the dragoness fell. "Jeez! I get it! You're a spoiled brat!"

"What!?" Maki yelled. "You're the bat, you weird human!"

"I said brat!" the girl replied. "And I'm a dragoness!" Before Maki could respond, she got up and pointed a finger at her. "Who cares if you're sick of that!?" she said. "I'm sick of it too! I'm sick of your stupid royal family celebrating every year! You were born on this day years ago, so what!? Nobody does that for me!" She got closer to the crimson haired girl. "It's always you, you, you! You're a spoiled brat! And because you get all those good things and I don't, I decided to take you here! So now we both can't have it!"

"You're stupid!" Maki yelled back, before she frowned. "...wait, did you say today's your birthday too?"

"I... uh, yes," the dragoness replied, half surprised that their argument was cut short by something so trivial. "I was also born today. But anyways, you get everything! And I don't! So now you don't get to get them, along with me!"

Maki seemed to ignore that immediately, though. "Why don't you get anyone to celebrate with you?" she suddenly asked, her voice almost genuinely caring. It was almost like this was a completely different person, not the spoiled child the dragoness thought she had kidnapped.

She frowned. "How would I do that!? Nobody likes me, and they're all scared of me, so I don't get anyone."

"Then don't kidnap me!" Maki said as if it was the most obvious solution.

"It's the first time, you jerk!" the dragoness yelled back. The two glared at each other again, before the dragoness looked away, annoyed. "Jeez, I should never return you or something," she mumbled.

Suddenly, Maki held something to her. "...here."

"...?" The dragoness looked back, and noticed something in her hand. It was a small, clear... something, with something hard-looking and bright green inside. "What's that?"

"It's candy," Maki said. "...it's your birthday, so here's your gift from me," she said.

Speechless, the dragoness slowly accepted it. "...um. Thanks." She examined the candy closely. "...so what is this?"

"You eat it, stupid," the captive replied. "You haven't ever had candy before?"

"I, I knew that!" She glared at Maki once more, before looking at the candy again. Still unsure, she then plopped it into her mouth. Maki's eyes widened at the same time as hers did. "Ack! It's tasteless!"

"A-are you stupid!?" Maki hissed. "Take off the wrapper!"

The girl spat out the candy in the wrapper into her hands, and stared at it. "The what?"

"The wrapper!" Met with a confused look, Maki growled. "Fine, I'll do it!" She hesitantly took the now-wet wrapper and, with some difficulty, ripped it open. Then she put the bright piece of candy in her captive's hands. "Here. Keep this in your mouth, don't chew or swallow it."

"What's the point of that?" the girl wondered, but did as she was told. The moment she closed her mouth, a familiar taste of apples erupted from within her mouth. Her eyes widened and sparkled with fascination as, when she swirled her tongue around the delightful thing known as a 'candy', a mix of sweet and sour spread everywhere. She moaned with delight, hands happily clutching both her cheeks. "Mmnn! Whatsh isth dith ting!?" she exclaimed.

"H-hey, careful, you might choke on it," Maki said and sighed. "It's candy, like I said. This one is apple-flavored." The girl looked at her captor, quite amazed. "I can't believe you've never had that... it's the craze in Papa's kingdom right now."

The other girl properly shifted her candy to the side of her mouth so she could talk more clearly. "I've never seen nor had something like this before! This is really amazing!" She then looked to Maki happily. "D-do you have anymore of... candy?"

Maki smiled helplessly. "Of course I do! I get them all the time!"

"T-that's awesome!" The dragoness gave the girl an affectionate hug. "You're the best! This is something I'd never ever taste if I didn't know any better! I'm so glad I kidnapped you!"

"..." The princess wasn't sure how to respond to that.

Nevertheless, she felt like maybe the two can get along now.

"So, uh," Maki started again and scratched her head, "who are you? You're a weird human, with wings and horns, and you've never had a birthday party or even candy." Then, looking around the room, she realized how lonely it seemed. It was exactly as she imagined the abandoned tower to be- an abandoned mess. The room looked like someone just came inside and lived here without cleaning up. "Where's your family? Or bodyguards? Or, or anyone else?"

"Oh, I don't have a family," the other girl replied, to her shock. "I've always been here alone. Don't you know?"

Maki shook her head in disbelief. "...no. No, I didn't no. I'm sorry." She looked down.

"...you're the princess, right?" the girl asked once more. "Princess Maki of the Nishikino family. Right? ...just to make sure."

Her captive nodded. "...yeah. I'm Princess Maki. Who... who are you?"

Then, grinning, the dragoness patted herself. "I'm the terrifying dragoness from the Yuuki tribe, Anju!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Maki and dragoness Anju hangs out.

Maki looked around, albeit a bit hesitant. "So... uh... you live here?"

"Yep! Anju replied with a nod, still savoring the taste of apples. "I've been staying here since forever! It's probably a bit hard to get used to for you, but don't worry! You'll love this place in no time!" She pointed to the nearby mirror, which had a huge crack on it. Maki winced. "The mirror there's just as good as any! Sure, the cracks are a bit hard to look past, but if you have enough imagination, you'll be fine!"

"Well... what about clothes?" she asked. "Surely you can't wear the same clothes over and over. Where do you keep other clothes?" As if answer her own question, she spotted a closet in the corner of the room, and went to open it.

"Oh, wait, don't-"

Maki pulled it open and screamed as a skeleton stood inside the closet, seemingly awaiting its freedom. Jumping back, she turned and ran behind Anju to hide from its assault, but noticed that it was stuck in the closet. To be specific, it was stuck on the inside wall of the closet, unmoving. "...i-it's fake...?"

"I dunno," Anju said, "I found it at the bottom of the tower and put it inside so that intruders won't ever think about snooping around my room."

"Oh." Maki gulped.  _Well, that also answers the question of whether she killed anyone or not._  The girl slowly went to close the closet, then sighed. "Okay, then... uh... food. Where do you get food to cook?"

"Cook?" The young dragoness laughed. "No, no, we don't do something stupid like humans do. We hunt and eat stuff raw or fresh from the forest."

"The forest... wait, raw?" The princess paled. "T-that's no good!"

Anju tilted her head. "What's not good?"

"Raw! You say you eat things raw!" Maki pointed to the forest. "Mama told me, if you eat meat raw, you'll get all kinds of diseases! You have to properly cook them! And, and vegetables, and fruits, you must wash them properly!"

"...ahaha! What're you talking about!?" Anju laughed. "That's stupid! You're stupid!" She looked out the window. "The animals out there don't cook food either, and they're fine. It's you guys that are confusing to us!"

"But..." Once Maki thought about it, she realized the girl had a point. Cooking was something they do. A tiger doesn't learn to cook... do they? "...fine then! How about... how about a bed?" She stared at the dusty bed next to the window. It was covered in dust, except for an area the shape of a person lying down. "There's no way you're telling me you actually sleep on this filthy bed. The castles have much cleaner beds!"

Anju looked away. "Well... I mean, it's not that bad."

Receiving no response, she looked back at Maki, who- to her surprise- as near tears.

"W-what? Why are you crying!?" Anju asked.

"It's just... i-it's so sad," Maki whined. "You don't get friends... y-you don't get candies... no cooked foods and clothes... and no good beds..." She sniffed, wiping her tears away. "I-it's like... you're so lonely..."

"Ah, jeez, stop crying!" Anju said and helped wiped the tears flooding her captured princess' face. "What are you, a kid?"

"I-I'm only thirteen! I can't help that you're so sad!" Maki said.

"Oh, well, suck it up! I'm thirteen in human years too!"

She flinched. "R... really?"

"Yeah! ...actually, you know what?" Anju grinned and lifted Maki up. "I should show you how cool some of the things I do are! Let's go to the forest!"

Maki frowned. "U-uh. Wait! Papa says it's dangerous to enter there and oh no please let me go-"

Too late. Anju jumped out the window with the girl in her arms, and spread her wings whilst trying to ignore the loud screams that followed. She headed towards the forest, which was even further away from the kingdom Maki was initially from. At the same time, four carriages were heading towards the tower, something both of them didn't notice.

* * *

They really came to the forest. Maki shivered slightly from few factors- the cool breeze, and the sight of a bear. "H-hey! There's... there's... over there...!"

"Calm down," Anju said. "That's just the brown furry meat. They taste good though!"

"Y-you're going to eat a bear!? That's stupid!" Maki said.

"B-be... bear? Is that what you people call it?" the dragoness asked, then shrugged. "You guys are so weird. It's not even that scary. Look, just a little bit of magic is good enough to kill it." The girl put up her hands and channeled some power. A bright ball formed from her palms, and, as she opened her eyes, was shot towards the bear. The beast had only managed to turn its head towards the two when the ball became as thin as a needle and pierced through its head.

Collapsing on the ground, the now-headless bear wasn't able to see Anju's smile nor Maki's shocked and disturbed face.

"See? What'd I tell you?" Anju said and turned to Maki. To her surprise, the princess was covering her mouth and bent over next to a tree. "What's wrong?"

"S-sorry... that was a bit... scary..." the crimson haired girl rasped.

"What, you've never seen red water before? What a kid," Anju said. "Anyways, come on! I'll show you the best parts of eating it."

Maki gulped, not out of hunger. "C-can't we... uh, cook it... at least?" she asked. "Papa's people... me, we don't eat it raw..."

Sighing, the dragoness rolled her eyes. "Fine, then you do it. I'll see how you do it."

"..." The girl paled. She didn't know how to cook! Her royal family's chefs did that for her! But... "I can't cook," she said, "but I know that you need fire to cook."

"Fire?"

"Yeah. You're a dragon, you can breathe fire, right?"

Anju shook her head. "No, that's not how it works," she said. "It's true that I'm kinda dragon, but I'm still kinda human too, as you can see. I'm a demihuman," she explained. "You know. Demihumans?"

"...I've never heard that word before," Maki said. "Papa only told me there were various monsters out there..."

"...well, whatever. I'm a bit of a dragon," Anju resumed, "but that's only my wings and horns. And my hands, I guess, but they're at least more humans, long claws aside. I don't have the, uh, inside body things needed for breathing fire." She aimed her hand at the ursine corpse. "But I can still use magic though. You need fire, right?"

"W-wait, careful!" Maki warned. "Don't burn it to powder!"

"Yeah, that's a given," Anju muttered. "Let's see, um... this much should be enough." She sent a limited amount of magic through her hands, and a fireball blazed through the corpse. When the fire faded away, a slightly cooked ursine body rested. Maki noticed a small weird scent from it, although it wasn't something she'd say was nice. "...is this good?"

"Uh... I'm not sure..." Maki said. She then recalled overhearing some chefs remark about how bear meat was complicated and needed to be prepared with more difficulties. Not understanding that, she sighed. "Uh, maybe it's better to get some other animals to eat."

"What? No, I killed the brown meat, I'm going to eat it!" Anju said. "I've always eaten it raw anyways, I don't get you."

"...w-well, maybe I'm not hungry after seeing... that."

"Whatever. Suit yourself, then." The dragoness proceeded to grab and tear a limb off the ursine corpse. She brought it close to her face and smelled it. "Hm... smells a bit different from how I usually eat it, but I guess it doesn't seem that bad." She then took a bite off it, a small amount of blood yet to dry from the fireball dripping down her chin. Maki winced at the sight and looked away, but Anju moaned with delight, meanwhile. "Mn! Great stuff... I'm not sure what, but it tastes a bit better than usual..."

Gulping, Maki tried to block out the noise of her chewing out of her ears. "R-right."

"So this is cooking... awesome!" Anju turned to her captured princess. "Are you sure you don't want this?"

"...no thanks."

"Jeez, you are hard to please," she said. "What do you usually eat then?"

Maki rubbed her chin. "Um... I can eat chicken meat," she said.

"Oh, chickens! Perfect!" Anju pointed to the direction of her tower, presumably somewhere close by. "I know a farm in between my house and your kingdom! I can bring us there and get some chickens for us."

"Okay, that's... hey, that's stealing!" Maki exclaimed.

"Steel...ing?" Anju blinked. "No, no, this has nothing to do with steel. Those are found in caves."

"No! Stealing!" Maki repeated. "It's when you take something without permission! If you take some farmer's chicken without asking, that's stealing, and they'll hate you for it!"

Anju scoffed. "No it's not. My grandpa taught me about this stuff long ago!" She waved her finger around as if to quote a wise person. "All life comes from nature, so it's only right for life to become food for other lives in order to return to nature. Therefore, you never need permission for things belonging to nature!"

"...?"

"...okay, maybe I remembered that wrong," the auburnette said, "but my point still stands! It's not a bad thing like you say it is. Now, hurry up!"

The princess shook her head. "No means no! I'm not going to steal some chickens!"

This got the dragoness slightly peeved. "Well, what are you going to eat then!?" she asked. "I can't just let you starve! I brought you out here on your birthday, I'd be a monster if I didn't give you a reason to stay!"

"Yeah, well I-" Maki froze. "...stay?"

"Yeah! Stay!" Anju smiled. "You'll stay with me, right? Since I took you away and everything, the others must be too scared of me to save you. We can spend everyday together and get used to living in the tower!"

The girl frowned. "I... I can't stay with you. Papa will cry, he'll miss me!"

"But... but I don't..." the dragoness stuttered. "I don't want you to go..."

"...why not?" Maki asked.

"You're... the first person who's ever been so... well, not so nice, but kinda nice to me..." she said. "You cried because you think I'm lonely... you gave me that weird tasty green stone because it's my birthday... you even taught me how to cook!"

 _That wasn't cooking,_  Maki wanted to say. "But... but you're... I can't."

"..." Anju looked down. Then she turned around and took a few steps away.

"...I'm, I'm sorry," the crimson haired princess said. "But... but if you'd like, I can tell everyone about you," she said, "and... and you can come with me! We can be friends!"

"I'm... your friend?" Anju asked and looked back at her, slightly hopeful.

Smiling, Maki nodded. "Yeah! We're friends now, aren't we?" she asked. "We have the same birthday, and we're hanging out! We can be friends, right?"

Anju nodded. "We can! We can..." Her voice droned off as her expression turned to that of a sadness. "...but, but I can't, Maki. I'm... I'm a dragoness, I'm a demihuman. Your dad... your dad and your people won't accept me," she said.

"They will!" Maki interrupted. "My Papa's kingdom is full of very kind people! Everyone will love you, you're cute and interesting!"

The dragoness blushed slightly. "R-really?" she asked. "Do you think so?"

"Yeah! I'm sure of it!" Maki hugged the dragoness, who turned shy and hugged back. "You'll fit in right well at our kingdom's school too, I'm hundred percent sure!"

"...w-well, if you say so," Anju said. "Then... then should I bring you back to your castle?"

"Hmm..." The princess rubbed her chin again. "No, let's go back to your tower first," she said. "Maybe you have some things that you don't want to leave there. I'll help you carry them, if you want."

"Do I?" Anju wondered and thought about her old, dusty room in the abandoned tower. She ultimately smiled. "Well, okay! I'll go look around then. Get ready for flight!"

"...uh oh." Maki felt the girl lift her again and tensed. "I hate this part..."

"I love this part!" Anju cheered and flew off with the princess in her arms, heading towards the direction where her tower stood.

Or, at least, where it should've been.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anju and Maki confronts the rescuers.

As Anju soared through the air with the princess in her arms, she looked around. "...that's funny, I could've sworn I came from this way."

"I-it's not just you," Maki replied, still slightly scared from being so high up, her eyes slightly but barely opened. "It's... it's somewhere around here..."

The two looked around again, but saw no traces of the abandoned tower that once stood tall and proud.

There was some weird grey lump they saw, but not having looked clearly, they dismissed it from the corner of visions as a random patch of... rocks, perhaps.

Until Maki took a glance. Then she paled, noticing some carriages parked near the strange grey area. "...h-hey," she said. "Do you think..."

Anju followed her gaze and frowned. From afar, she couldn't exactly tell what the grey stuff were, but a bad feeling took over her. "...no way," she chirped and flew closer.

As they shortened the distance between them and the strange area, their worries were slowly confirmed the grey area slowly transformed into a broken structure made of grey bricks.

"...no way," Anju repeated, "there's just... no way..."

They landed nearby and rushed to where the carriages were. The duo noticed, with immense sadness, that the crumbling structure was indeed- regrettably- Anju's only home.

"M-my tower!" Anju exclaimed.

"..."

The two stared at what remained of it. At that moment, some figures trotted out the tower.

"There's nothing valuable in there. God, it's filthy!"

"And we can't find the princess at all. Maybe she's gone."

"Don't be ridiculous, you two. She must be... oh."

The three strangers, a group of a male knight, male archer and female wizard, noticed the duo staring at them. Their faces beamed with delight as they recognized the princess immediately. "Princess!" they yelled collectively.

"A-are you Papa's friends?" Maki asked. She wished it wasn't so.

"That's right, we're here to save you!" the knight told her. "Who is that next to you?"

"...you destroyed my home!" Anju exclaimed and spread her wings, which she had hidden a few seconds prior. The three gasped and readied their weapons.

"The dragon! Princess, stay back!" the knight exclaimed and grabbed Maki forcefully.

"H-hey!"

She was put behind the three, as the archer took aim at the dragoness.

"Let go of her!" Anju yelled and charged magic around her hands. She lost focus immediately, however, as an arrow whizzed pass her face. "Hey!"

"You're not getting anywhere near her!" the archer said.

Maki, meanwhile, struggled from within the female mage's grip. "Let me go!"

"P-princess, please stay calm!" the mage pleaded. "We'll keep you safe, no need to be that scared!"

"No! Let go of me!" Maki repeated. "You're going to hurt her!"

"She won't hurt me!" the mage reassured.

"Not you! Her!"

Anju dodged another arrow, meanwhile. "Stop this! I don't want to fight!" She flew back to avoid the knight's slash. "I just want to know why you destroyed my home!"

"Monster!" the knight yelled. "We won't fall for your deceit!"

"S-stop it!" Maki said. "She's not a bad person!"

The mage shook her head. "Princess, you've been brainwashed. She's a dragon! She kidnapped you!"

"She's just lonely!" Maki defended. "She's alone this entire time, forgive her!"

"That's just what she's saying!" the archer yelled. "A monster can't feel lonely!"

The redhead shook violently. "You're the monsters!"

Frowning, the mage glared at the princess, silencing her with fear. But she gently let the girl go, hoping she wouldn't raise a fuss. Maki seemed to understand this and bowed politely. "..." Then she turned to the knight. "You two, stop. We can try to hear her out at least."

"A-are you sure?" the knight asked and lowered his sword.

Anju landed nearby with a sigh of relief, although he was a bit wary. "Why'd you destroy my home!?" she inquired.

"W-we're sorry," the knight spoke, "it was abandoned, so we didn't think anyone would be living here."

"We wanted to find the princess," the mage said. "We've got what we want. We'll assist you in getting whatever you want, so please, don't terrorize our people anymore."

"She didn't do anything bad!" Maki said. "She's innocent! Please..."

"...princess, we can't-"

"I promised her!" the princess said. "I promised her our kingdom would accept and forgive her! We're not bad people, we can live with her! She can help us!"

The mage and the knight exchanged worried glances. On one hand, there was no way they would trust a dragoness. On the other hand, the idea of having her on their side was a bit... slight bit... tempting... but-

"No!" the archer yelled. They all had barely any time to react as they turned to face the archer, who had just shot an arrow towards the dragoness.

"Anju!" Maki cried and jumped towards her in an attempt to protect.

The mage tightly grabbed her by the collar, however. "Princess!"

Anju couldn't do anything as the moment she took even a step back, the arrowhead was directly in front of her right eye.

She attempted to-

_-ksshshthh-_

A bloodcurdling scream filled the air. Blood stained the ground where she had just stood, the knight backing away in shock.

"My! My eye! My eye! It hurts!"

"Anju!" Maki called, then glared at the archer, tears overflowing. "Don't hurt her!"

It hurts! Maki! I-it hurts!"

"W-why'd you do that!?" the mage screamed.

The archer growled and prepared another arrow. "We're not letting a monster into our kingdom!" he yelled. "We are not going to accept that thing! It's a dragon! It's a filthy demihuman!"

"It could've been a powerful ally!" the knight said.

"It could backstab us!" the archer replied.

"She isn't bad!" Maki growled. "You're a meanie!" The girl tried to hit the archer, but it barely did anything and the archer felt more annoyed than anything.

"Princess! Don't be difficult right now, this is grown ups' talk!"

"Shut up! You hurt my friend!"

"Put down that bow and arrow!"

"What will we do!?"

Four voices screaming at each other. The atmosphere was becoming chaotic, fear and anger and panic and disappointment and pure darkness was brewing around the abandoned tower, and-

" _Liar!_ "

The four froze. Maki slowly turned to her new friend. "A-Anju...?"

"Maki... you liar!" Anju hissed. "Y-you said... you said they'd accept me!"

"I- I didn't lie!" the crimson haired princess said. "I, I just..."

"You're a liar!" the dragoness hissed again, venom on the tip of her tongue. "You said they were kind! That they'd be friendly!"

"B-but we are!" Maki said. "R-right? Right?" she asked the bodyguards sent to rescue her.

They wanted to nod in agreement, but they couldn't. After all, one of them had already done something unforgivable.

"O-oh, dragoness, please forgive us!" the knight cried. "W-we did not mean to harm you, we simply want to unite with you! P-please grant our kingdom mercy..."

"Liars! All liars!" Anju said. Her hands struggled to grab the arrow in her eye, but she managed to after shaking in pain, and pulled it off. More strings of blood scattered in front of them, and to their horror, a barely but slightly recognizable lump of blood-soaked white was embedded on the arrowhead's tip. "I should've... never listened to you! Maki!"

"But Anju!"

"It's your fault!" the young dragoness roared. She charged her hands up again, terrifying the knight and the mage and the princess. The archer scowled and prepared his bow again as well. "It's your fault..."

To their confusion, Anju dropped her hands and turned around. She started limping away, a hand covering her now-empty right eye socket.

Maki took a few steps forward. "W-where are you going!?"

"Away!" the dragoness hissed. "Away... away from you... away from your stupid kingdom..."

"Anju, wait!" the princess cried.

Without offering another word, the dragoness spread her wings and flew back towards the forest. THey saw her attempt to fly away somewhere else, but after few seconds they saw her body fall and collapse somewhere in the dark woods.

"A-Anju!" Maki shrieked. She began chasing after her direction, but the mage grabbed her hand. "L-let me go!"

"P-princess, no! You can't!" the woman said. "It's dangerous!"

"That's why we have to save her!"

The knight picked her up, shaking. "I-it's too late, princess! The monster will never forgive us now!"

Maki growled. "She's not a monster!"

"Princess!" the archer yelled. "You are being a brat right now! That monster will kill everyone if she gets the chance! Shut up and stop this nonsens!"

The redhead's eyes swelled up again. "B-but, but! But-"

"Put her to sleep!" the archer instructed the mage.

"N-no!" Maki wailed. She struggled some more to escape, but the mage reluctantly poured magic into her forehead, causing her eyes to slowly close no matter how hard she tried to resist it.

"Good fucking night, princess," the archer scowled.

That was what she saw and heard last.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki and Anju misses each other. Mage and Knight talks.

"What... what did you say!?" the king exclaimed, face turned blue with terror. "You did what to the dragon!?"

"H-he didn't mean harm!" the mage quickly replied, hoping not to be executed.

"You shut up!" the archer hissed. "I did what I had to, to protect our kingdom! Your Majesty, I did what any loyal person would!"

The king pounded his fist on his throne's arm. "Are you stupid!? You might as well as have declared war against the demihumans!"

"And we can beat them!" the archer replied.

"I-it's all over, we're doomed!" the knight wailed, cowering nearby.

"We aren't! You all need to get your shit together!" the archer said.

Maki trembled behind her father. "P-Papa... they hurt-"

"She is not your friend!" the archer interrupted. "Princess! Open your eyes!"

"Do not speak to my daughter with that tone!" the king in turn yelled. "You've traumatized my poor Maki! The least you could've done is put her to sleep before doing whatever nonsense you were doing!"

"P-Papa..." Maki whispered in disbelief.

Her father caught this and frowned. "I- I'm sorry, Maki, darling. I didn't mean that they should kill your... friend after putting you to sleep! I meant-"

"You're right, we should've done that!" the archer said. "But these two were thinking of listening to the dragon!"

"B-but the princess said she was her friend!" the mage defended.

"We could've added it to our forces!" the knight added.

"Nonsense! It's a monster!" the archer replied angrily. "Monsters! They're what killed our family!"

"Anju's not a monster!" Maki cried.

"She is a monster!" He took a step towards her, arms stretched. "Princess, you are being deceived! You are siding with the monsters!"

"I am not!"

"That's enough!" the king yelled. "You will not accuse my daughter of something so heinous!" he said, and turned slightly to the princess. "Maki, I'm afraid this is getting out of hand. Please go to your room."

"But Papa!" Maki wailed.

"Maki, please," the king begged, tired.

"...okay..." Fighting against her tears, the girl hopped off his lap and walked towards the door. She turned back and glared briefly at the archer, then walked out the room. On the way back to her room, the girl stopped in front of a wide window and stared out. "...Anju... I want to see you again..."

* * *

She limped towards an unknown destination. Much less blood was spilling, but the pain was still throbbing in her head, screaming with rage and suffering.

The warmth dripping down her face felt odd, almost like it was no longer just her blood.

Was she crying?

Anju shook her head, sniffling. "Liar... she's a liar..." she rasped.

She eventually collapsed next to an old tree, lying helplessly on her sides.

"Maki... you're a liar..." she cried.

The dragoness waited, and waited, and waited, for her princess to come back and reassure her everything was okay. She desperately wished the girl would come and give her that sweet-sour green candy again. She wished the girl would come and tell her she was cute again, that everyone would love her.

She wanted to feel her friend's warmth again, she wanted to be embraced again.

"...no..." she growled, fighting back hero own tears. "She's a liar... she's not a friend..."

Grunting, the girl got up again. She tried to spread her wings, but they were trembling and weak. She was almost convinced that if she tried to fly again while feeling this screeching pain in her head, she'd no doubt crash into another tree and risk something worse happening to her.

The dragoness narrowed her remaining eye through her blurry vision to see a cave nearby.

She quietly made up her mind to take it. Whatever could possibly be living inside, it didn't matter- she needed a place to rest and heal.

Anju limped her way towards the cave and peered inside. As another drop of blood fell onto the ground, she held her breath.

"...?" No hungry beast assaulted her.

She sighed with relief and weakly walked inside the cave.

"No... I'm sleepy..." the girl muttered. She tried to fight back the coming darkness, but fell onto her knees. Determined to at least make her way deep into the cave, she channeled what remaining power lied in her hands and shot the area directly behind her with a fireball, propelling her further inside the cave. The girl roughly landed and smashed into the cave walls, feeling more blood spurt out from the impact.

Anju groaned. The tears were coming back, obstructing her remaining eye. She thought she saw something glittering on the ground in front of her, but she was just about at the limit of her consciousness.

The dragoness fell forward and felt water envelope her body.

As she sunk further, her wound screaming from water contact, she stared straight up towards the barely illuminated surface.

"...Maki... I want to see you again..." she whispered with the air remaining in her lungs.

* * *

...

* * *

"How's it going?" the mage asked and sat down across the knight, wooden cup in her hands. "Still hearing people mouth off at you?"

The knight sighed, looking down solemnly as he ignored the reflection inside his own cup of water. "Yeah..."

Sighing along, the mage glanced outside the window. "It's been hard for us, hasn't it?" she asked. "And that jerk got all the praises and everything."

"I- I don't understand," the knight said, "what is there to praise? What he did was foolish. What he did, the demihumans scorn us for it."

"Our country's people are idiots," the mage replied. "...n-not the royal family, of course, I'm not..."

"I know," the knight said. "I know... even His Majesty didn't approve of it."

"So why did it turn out like this...?" the mage wondered.

The two sat in silence.

"...you know, I'm... I'm thinking of leaving this kingdom," the knight then spoke up.

The mage's eyes widened. "You... what? But why?" she asked. "You can't leave us here, you can't leave the royal family here!"

"I'm sorry," the knight said, "but I'm tired. I'm tired... the villagers look at us like we're scum," he said. "And the soldiers look at us like we're cowards. And that guy... that guy looks at us like filth on the bottom of his shoes." He shook his head, hands trembling. "It's been four years. Four years... and nobody has ever let it go."

"...come now, it's... it's not that..." the mage said, but froze.

She knew it was that bad.

It had been four years since the kidnapping incident, and the archer was ultimately praised by almost everyone. Despite the royal family's worries, the princess' hostility, the knight's paranoia and the mage's disappointment, many supported the archer's acts, called it heroic, called him their savior.

Because of the others' worries, some started to doubt the Nishikino family's authority.

Because of his paranoia, some started to doubt the knight's capabilities.

Because of her reluctance, some started to doubt the mage's affiliations.

Because of the slight traces of a heart within them, they were starting to be viewed negatively, and it was something they had to put up with through the years that went by. It was... heartbreaking, to say the least.

Nevertheless, as long as the royal family remained, the mage would stay by them. She would never abandon them. That's why...

As she opened her mouth to criticize the knight, however, he looked at her. "You're teaching the princess to use magic, right?"

She blinked. "Y-yeah. And you're teaching her swordsmanship," she added.

Two years after the incident, two years prior to now, Maki made up her mind and one day came up to the two. She asked them to teach her how to fight, how to use magic. She asked the archer as well, albeit scornfully, to teach her to use the bow. When questioned for her reason, however, she said when she met the dragoness again one day she wanted to show her how she's grown.

That resulted in the archer openly mocking and criticizing her, deeply to the point of even threatening her and scaring her greatly. The then-fifteen years old princess locked herself up once more for few more days, but the mage and knight thought she had faced enough from the archer and decided to agree to training her.

It's been quite the two years for them, too, as Maki wasn't anything special, but she definitely learned fast.

She was their first and only disciples, and it's one of the only things remaining that they could be proud of.

Yet... "What are you going to do about her?" the mage asked. "If you just up and leave... who'll teach her more about weapons?"

"...it's time she graduated from that," the knight said. "I've taught her all I know. I think it's fine already..."

"But that's..."

"...even now," the knight said, "even now, when I see her, I'm scared. I feel it deep inside... she still harbors hatred for me, for us, for how we treated her friend dragon."

"No she doesn't," the mage interrupted. "...Princess Maki and I have talked about it some months ago. She doesn't hold us responsible for that anymore... it's only him-"

"Even then!" the knight yelled. "Even then... even if she doesn't blame us anymore, I feel it. I feel her silent stare pierce through my head. I can feel the blood lust in her, I can feel her calmness waiting for us to drop our guards and-"

"That's enough!" the mage said. "She will not do that! Again, it's all in your head!" she informed him. "It's your paranoia that's making you think that!"

"I know it is!" he replied. "But I can't help it, it's ruining me! It's ruining me, along with all these people's stares of judgement!" He sighed and looked down once more. "I can't take it. I can't take it anymore... that's why, I think it's best if I leave this place."

The mage shook her head. "That wouldn't solve anything."

"I know... but I've made up my mind," he said. "In two days. I'm leaving... in two days. I want to give my regards to everyone before I leave."

"...the princess will be sad," the mage said.

He smiled sadly. "I know. So I'll apologize to her for everything as well." He then got up and stretched his arms. "You should think about what you want to do as well. This kingdom is gone for, anyways, with that guy jumping up the ranking inside the villagers' hearts. Nobody believes in us nor the royal family anymore."

"...I'll... think about it," she said, uncertain, as he left. Looking out the window again, she saw Maki training in the courtyard, shooting off some elemental spells into the distant. "...Princess Maki..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki grows up and gets married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **,,, luiz117;** oh cool, a comment. thanks, buddy.

"Maki, dear? Are you ready?" a woman called.

She rolled her eyes and peered down the stairs. "Just a bit more, Mama."

"Alright then," her mother replied. "Wouldn't want to be late to the wedding, would you?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," the girl said. It wasn't like she wanted to get married.

At the age of eighteen, plans were suddenly made to arrange a marriage between Maki and... some guy. Some prince from a neighboring kingdom that was lesser known than hers, but still a powerful one. In fact, the decline of people's faith in the Nishikino royal family caused some to desert their kingdom in search of 'more trustworthy' people. The praised (detestable) archer also left in search of great adventures and treasures, effectively bringing along more than half the citizens who were previously staying.

The few who remained were skeptical about the state of affairs of the kingdom, but they hadn't sorted out their plans yet. On the brink of despair, her father, King Nishikino was contacted by a messenger from the neighboring kingdom. They offered to join forces with him and unite their two areas together, on the condition his princess be wed to their prince.

It was for her father's sake. Maki didn't mind it- in fact, although she didn't like how this was going, she was sure it wouldn't be as bad as it seemed. Her father was a bit reluctant seeing her lack of enthusiasm, but her mother seemed to be blinded by the 'romance' of it.

How ridiculous.

Nevertheless, their lives carried on as the wedding drew closer, and eventually, the day was here.

And yet... she realized she didn't want this at all.

But who was she, the princess of the Nishikino family, to decline it now? On top of causing more problems for her family and especially her father, suddenly turning them down now would possibly start a small-scaled war between the two kingdoms.

Why didn't she turn it down long ago? Ah, how foolish she had been.

The girl sighed and picked up a small pieces of auburn scale.

Her teenage years were filled with a bit more adventurous exploration than one would think. Along with weaponry and magic training from her two former teachers, she liked to take 'walks' outside the castle and actually visit the abandoned tower far away.

Back then, she had always hoped she'd meet that person again. They never met again after the incident five years ago, and she wasn't surprised- the girl promised someone, a demihuman, that her nation would accept her and love her, and seconds after, someone from her own nation took the dragoness' right eye with an arrow, spewing total hatred and contempt.

There was no way she could've ever been forgiven, and even if she was, the girl herself would never forgive herself for it.

The ruins of the abandoned tower was especially cold and lonely. As she expected, it was completely untouched in the entire time they were apart. The dragoness most likely never came back to the tower, nor near her castle, she initially thought- but then she found it.

An auburn scale.

That was her happiest moment in years, discovering evidence that her friend did return shortly, and that her friend was alive.

But then, where was she?

Where was Anju of the Yuuki dragoness tribe?

She never knew.

...the girl chuckled and put the scale back on her drawer. It was time to let go of her past, or so she thought. The scale only reminded her of the friend she unintentionally lied to, bringing back only painful memories, and regret. Taking something like this as a good luck charm was ridiculous to her.

The princess had made up her mind days ago, anyways. After getting married, she was to leave with the prince to their new castle, do some lover stuff, and start a new life. Her time as Nishikino Maki will be over soon, so everything of her past should just be tossed.

That includes anything to do with the dragoness she hurt.

* * *

"Maki... I'm really sorry," her father whispered.

The crimson haired princess smiled, wiping a tear away from his eyes. "Papa... it'll be fine. I'll be alright." She looked around, and sighed with relief as she noted the lack of her mother's presence. "This is for your sake... if I don't, who knows what they'll do?"

He trembled. "But to give my daughter away... all to prevent my own kingdom's downfall..." His voice hitched. "I'm a terrible king... and more importantly, a terrible father..."

"Papa, don't say that..." Maki felt tears emerging from her eyes as well, but she fought it back. "I don't mind this marriage at all... so don't say that. You're the best dad I could ever ask for."

"Maki... Maki, I'm sorry..." the king sobbed, no longer able to properly form sentences.

Embracing her father one last time, Maki made her way to the church and waved sadly to him as she departed.

The girl saw a man waiting in front of the church. It was the prince, seemingly waiting for her. She had never actually met him yet, so she had no idea what kind of person he was. But his attire screamed 'royalty' no matter how you looked at it, so at least there was that to indicate his identity.

As she neared him, she saw him scowl. "I-I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting, Your Highness?"

"You sure did!" he yelled. "There's only a bit more time before we get started. What took you so long!?"

"I- I apologize, I was talking with my father one last time," she said. Then she realized that she hadn't been late in the first place, and felt a bit peeved by his attitude.

"Your old geezer, huh? Who cares about that, get inside," the prince replied.

She narrowed her eyes. "That 'old geezer' is my father and the king of the Nishikino kingdom," she said. "Please be resp-"

"You're joining my family now," he cut her off. "So that crap title doesn't matter anymore. Got it?"

"I'm sorry, but-"

"My God! Are you asking for war!?" the prince asked and slapped her hard across the cheek. "Don't forget, Maki! Your country's, no, your family's safety is in my hands! Don't be mouthing off to me, otherwise!"

"...how dare you disrespect me like this?" Maki growled. "I am the-"

"Don't make me laugh," he scowled, "you're a princess no more. You're to become my wife now. Do I make myself clear?"

She glared. "Maybe I should-"

"Do I make myself clear!?"

Flinching, the girl felt something inside her spark up once again. It was a familiar feeling of fear- it was almost like talking to the archer from years ago. Realizing her sudden loss of confidence, she started trembling, nodding quietly. He seemed satisfied with this and shut the church's doors, motioning her to follow him and his nation's priests.

She looked down helplessly.  _Papa..._

* * *

"Your Highness. Do you take Princess Nishikino to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her, for as long as you both shall live?"

The prince grinned. "Of course I do. Don't be stupid." He turned to the crimson haired princess next to him. "Isn't that right, Maki?"

She exhaled with disgust. "You're supposed to say 'I do'."

He scowled and slapped the back of her head. "Don't get all smart with me." Sensing someone stand up in rage, he turned around and sent a fierce glare at the Nishikino kingdom's ruler, effectively reminding him that their safety was in his kingdom's hands. Seeing the old fool reluctantly sit back down, he grinned. "Keep on going, priest."

The priest nodded. "Princess Nishikino, do you take His Highness to be your wedded husband to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him so long as you both shall live?"

Maki looked down. She didn't want to answer that. Two words, two words and her fate would be sealed.

Two words and she'd have essentially resigned her own life to this man. This scum who treated her like an object for his ambitions, and not as a woman.

The girl looked back at her father in the audience. Seeing her saddened face only made him weep more, as he covered his face in great shame and disgust directed at himself. Watching her mother console him out of misunderstanding, Maki looked back at the priest. "...I..."

"Hurry it up," the prince hissed and slapped her head again.

The girl bit her lips regretfully.

She didn't like this.

She didn't want this.

She never wanted this.

But she had to do this.

Taking in a deep breath, she opened her mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki reunites with a friend.

She didn't like this, nor did she want this.

Her life was hers, but in a few seconds, that would no longer hold true. She'll belong to some crude prince who didn't even respect her, and probably never be heard from ever again.

But... there was nothing she could do.

Maki resigned herself to her fate, for the sake of her father, as she opened her mouth.

"...I-"

_-crash-_

Something happened. Voice caught in her throat, she turned to a window high above, stepping back to avoid the falling pieces of glasses. Everyone was speechless when a figure landed directly between the duo and the priest, then stood straight up and laughed haughtily.

"Alright, whoever's getting married, she's mine now!" the unknown intruder said.

Maki blinked, a wave of familiarity assaulting her from inside. This intruding dragoness... her auburn hair... her amethyst eyes... she recognized her.

She recognized this dragoness.

Maki smiled. She recognized her friend from years ago. "Anju!"

The dragoness blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "How'd you... wait... you're familiar," she muttered. The girl rubbed her chin, ignoring the guards and prince who drew their weapons. "Hey... hey! Princess Maki!?"

"That's right!" Maki said. "Gods! I've missed you so much, where did you go!?" She then finally took in the view of Anju's closed right eye. "...o-oh, and... is your eye..."

"...it's fine," Anju replied and covered it with her scaled hands. "Sometimes it hurts a bit, but really..."

"Stop... stop talking!" the prince yelled. "Why are you conversing with the monster!? Get back!"

Before Maki could explain, she was roughly grabbed by a guard. "H-hey!"

Two people growled at the prince then. "Do not treat her like that!" both Maki's father and Anju yelled. At this, the king blinked and stared at the dragoness, but she didn't take notice.

"Or what? You can't order me around!" The prince smiled and pointed his sword at her. "This woman is to become my bride. I own her now- I can do what I want!"

Anju narrowed her eyes. "...bastard."

"Call me what you want, you're not invited nor welcomed here, monster." He motioned to the shattered window. "I think it's time you leave, so we can continue."

Instead of heeding his advice, however, Anju walked past him, towards Maki. Slightly intimidated, he stepped back from her, while his guards exchanged glances and released the princess, stepping away. "Maki, is this true?"

She wanted to deny it, but... Maki nodded sadly. "Yes, I must. It's... it's for the sake of the Nishikino kingdom."

"Maki..." The dragoness could tell. She knew the dragoness could tell- she didn't want this.

Anju turned to the audience, and spotted a familiar face, the face of the king she saw when she first kidnapped the crimson haired princess. "..."

"What, you've got nothing to say?" Anju asked.

"...I'm afraid not," the king replied solemnly. "We both didn't want this, but... I'm afraid I cannot go against His Highness," he said.

The auburnette scowled. Her hands, which held Maki's, tightened slightly, but that wasn't really minded. "Whatever problem it is, you think it's more important than your daughter?" she barked. "If I were you, I'd prioritize her happiness first!"

"Anju..." Maki whispered. She looked down and saw the girl's hands wrapped around her own, and smiled. Unlike with the prince, she felt so safe being held by her friend, by her black scaled dragon hands...? Maki blinked. The scales were dark black, a rather odd difference from the auburn scales the dragoness used to have. "..." She pushed that matter away for now. This was more important.

"Now hold on here," her mother said and stood up. "I don't know what's going on, but please leave. It is extremely disrespectful- and unsightly, to add- how you're disturbing the romantic wedding of our daughter's!"

"Forget the wedding, look at your own daughter first!" Anju hissed.

"Why, that is just-"

"Honey, enough..." the king rasped.

The mother narrowed her eyes. "What are you...?"

The prince, meanwhile, who had been watching silently, slammed his sword on the ground. "Enough! You lot shall not ignore me!"

Anju and Maki turned to him. "What, you were still here?" Anju asked, to his dismay.

"Why, you...!" Enraged, the prince raised his sword once more. "Return the princess to my side this instant! Or I will be forced to-"

"Do it," Anju said. "Whatever it is, do it."

"A-Anju?" Maki looked at her friend. "I don't think..."

"You be quiet," Anju said. "I've still got things to... discuss, with you later."

The princess blinked. "...o-okay..." she replied meekly. The tone in Anju's voice wasn't one of a friend happy to meet her again. She mentally sighed- she knew what this was about.

She definitely hadn't been forgiven for that incident.

And that was understandable to her, she supposed.

"You utter bitch," the prince growled, "you lot are just trying my patience today, aren't you...? Guards! Magic!" he called. The guards nodded and pooled around him, making contact with the prince and transferring their magic energy to him. He grinned at the dragoness. "You can start crying now that you're about to face my magic spell."

Anju stared at him, unamused. "Right."

"Don't think you can keep that facade up forever," he muttered. Aiming his palm at her, he shot out a huge fiery blast. "Take that!"

The dragoness wasn't even slightly scared by it, staring the ball down as it headed for her. Before she could even swat it away, however, Maki raised her hand at the ball and shot water out. The water magic shot was powerful and completely drenched the prince, in addition to the total disappearance of the fireball. Anju blinked. "Whoa, you can use magic now too?"

"Y-yeah," Maki said, "I... I learned it from my teacher..."

"Maki, you bitch!" the prince interrupted. "Why are you protecting her!?"

"You would've hit me too, idiot!" Maki hissed back, earning the gasps of many. No one ever talked back to their kingdom's prince.

He gritted his teeth. "It looks like I'm going to have to discipline you in my chambers tonight..." the prince said.

"I don't think so," Maki muttered and turned to the cowering priest. "I'm sorry, let's resume. To answer your question, I don't."

More gasps. Many's jaws dropped in shock at the princess' rejection, the prince especially devastated by the humiliation he felt.

"You don't? You don't what?" Anju asked. "Were you supposed to have done something for human marriage rituals?"

"...stupid," the princess said and chuckled. "I'm so glad to see you again, Anju."

Caught off-guard by this, the auburnette blushed slightly. "W-what're you saying? Jeez."

"Princess!" a guard yelled. "Please take back your foolish decision right now! Otherwise, your country will-"

"No!" the prince yelled. His frown turned to a forced grin, mad with rage. "No... I've had enough of this! She has made her decision." He pointed his sword again, this time at the princess. "If she wants to sit in her room, so be it. Tonight, we'll wage war with her kingdom!"

"I'm going with Anju," Maki said.

"Good ri... what?"

Everyone froze. Even Anju was surprised.

"Um, what? No you're not," the dragoness said.

"Yes I am," Maki replied and turned to her. "I'm going with you. I'm going to get out of here, and see other places in the world, and you're going to be with me."

Anju shook her head, confused. "What're you talking about? I can't do that!" She looked at the girl's father, who was staring wordlessly at them. "You need to go back to stay with your father! Heck, you can protect them now too, with your magic."

"...b-but..."

"Princess, I only came here to kidnap some random girl," Anju said. "And knowing that it's you, I don't feel like that now. I'm just here to help you get away from that ugly ass."

"What did you just say!?" the prince roared, but was hit with a piece of rock thrown by the dragoness. "My face!"

"I am not going to take you with me," Anju said. She leaned even closer, with narrowed eyes. "And I am not going to stay with you."

Frowning, Maki looked at her father. He looked back, an equally sad expression on his face. The girl trembled- she hadn't thought about what to do yet, about how to protect her family from the war that was to come. She then looked at the prince, who by now had recovered, and was grinning smugly. Her fists shook with frustration. "Anju..."

"Maki," her father suddenly spoke. "Maki... what do you want to do?"

The girl clutched her head. "I... I don't know, Papa... I want to be friends with Anju again..."

Anju shifted a bit.

"...but I... I can't leave you..."

Then, her father smiled. "Maki... darling, everything will be alright." Turning to Anju, he closed his eyes and sighed. "...Anju, is your name, is it?"

"...yeah. What about it?" the auburnette asked.

He shook his head. "I... would like to give you two something." Digging around his robe, he pulled out two popsicle sticks and put one in each girl's hands. "I've requested a certain mage to imbue some magic into these... so please, don't return here."

"...Papa?" Maki voiced. "What are you...?"

"What're those going to do?" the prince asked mockingly. "How laughable. The Nishikino kingdom's ruler really has gone senile."

Ignoring his remarks, the king smiled and gently closed the girls' hands. "Dragoness Anju, please... keep my daughter safe."

The two, still confused, exchanged glances.

"Honey?" the king turned slightly to his wife.

Maki's mother sighed. "...well, whatever. As long as you stay safe and happy, Maki, I guess... whatever he's going to do, I'll be fine with it?"

"B-but... what're you going to do?" Maki asked. "Papa, you're talking as if..."

"Squeeze them tight," the king instructed and flashed a final smile. "Squeeze them and break them."

Exchanging another glance, Anju and Maki did as were instructed. The two popsicle sticks broke, and a white light enveloped them.

Maki shut her eyes from the brightness, and when she opened her eyes again, she stood in the familiar ruins of an abandoned tower.

"...Papa?"


End file.
